Model Code of Conduct hits Nagpur civic body for second time in a year

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation, which came under BJP rule after winning the general election following four years of administrator rule, was hit by the Model Code of Conduct for the second time in its first year in office on Tuesday. Earlier in May, while the budget for the fourth term was being prepared, elections to the Legislative Council seat reserved for local bodies had been announced, forcing the civic body to present its budget a month late.

On Tuesday, elections were announced for the graduates' constituency as well, bringing work at the civic body to a halt for the second time. This is expected to directly affect development works, with Nagpur set to face disruption for about one and a half months.

As soon as the elections were announced, several corporators expressed sharp displeasure over the halt in civic body functioning. The corporators said that funds for development in their wards had somehow been secured after a struggle, but before the full funds could even be received, the code of conduct came into force. They said development work in the wards would now not be possible, even as problems that had arisen in the wards after the rains were to be resolved through these very development works.

According to political observers, it was already known in advance that Legislative Council elections would be held for both the local bodies seat and the graduates' constituency. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which they say remains in election mode round the clock, was well aware of this, yet the party remained completely unconcerned. As a result, no serious effort was made in the Standing Committee to push development work files forward quickly. Observers said a lax approach was also seen in implementing the budget in the first year of the term. Some office bearers received funds and some of their files even reached the tender stage, but of the civic body's 160 corporators, around 150 saw their ward development files fail to reach even the tender stage. These corporators are now bearing the consequences.

With the elections announced, the code of conduct has come into force, and it is now the administration's responsibility to enforce it. Having known this in advance, office bearers were the first to return their official vehicles. The administration said the code of conduct would also affect the other facilities available to these office bearers. On Tuesday, as soon as the news came in, Mayor Neeta Thakre, Deputy Mayor Leela Hathibed, ruling party leader Balya Borkar and opposition leader Sanjay Mahakalkar returned their vehicles. The ruling party leader had already returned his official vehicle earlier, and on Tuesday he even had the ruling party leader's board and flag removed from his private vehicle.